When the words are set free
by Not Just a Nerd
Summary: <html><head></head>He says it like it's something they were taught in elementary school. "Every body ships Jisbon." Her eyes narrow in curiosity and confusion. "What's Jisbon?" JANE/LISBON.</html>
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I certainly do not own The Mentalist, because I'm still left guessing who Red John is :P **

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><p>She knows her phone beeping at 3 at night can mean one of the two things- either Jane is up to some crazy mind game and wants her to tag along with him somewhere, or Jane has managed to get himself into trouble already and needs her to bail him out. Neither of these is something she looks forward to, especially since these have somehow ended up being part of her job description.<p>

"Hello?" she mumbles after answering the phone, trying to sound awake and sincere, but failing to hide the yawn that comes through.

"Lisbon, I need you in my office now."

She's a little shocked to hear Agent Hightower's voice on the other end. She straightens up instantly. "Yes, maam, I'll be right there." She doesn't ask any more questions, just gets ready and rushes to the office, straining herself to keep under her speed limit. Jane is such a bad influence on everyone!

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><p>"I'm here, ma'am", announces as she enters the office, and is a bit surprised to find the rest of her team there as well. She glances at everyone's faces once, before she eyes her boss fearfully. "Is everything alright?"<p>

"There's been a homicide at one of our Agent's house." Hightower informs them. "The D.A. wants you to look into the matter."

"Yes ma'am", Lisbon nods quickly, "We'll get there right away. Come on, Cho."

"Oh no, Cho is needed here." Hightower interrupts. "We need to make enquiries in some other houses. You take _Jane_ with you."

It's funny how Jane is usually the one tagging along with her and vice versa. They are like the default settings of some software.

Lisbon nods, for the first time noticing that Jane isn't around. So that is why there has been no trouble so far! "Where's Jane?" she asks curiously.

"Right here", she hears a reply from behind her, and doesn't even have to turn around to know it's Jane. He walks into the room, grinning. "Looking for me Lisbon?"

She exits the room at the same time, and he follows. "No. _Hightower_ was looking for you. She wants me to take you with me."

"Hmmm", he hums, casually taking out a candy bar from one of the pockets of his jeans. "Want a bite?"

"There's been a homicide", she tells him the obvious, her face screaming the 'how can you eat chocolate when someone was murdered' that she's holding back, with much difficultly.

"Hmmm", he hums again, now taking a bite himself. "It's delicious. Your loss."

She shakes her head and gets inside the elevator, pressing the buttons before he can press for the wrong floor just for fun, like he sometimes does. "I just don't understand. Why did she make me take you with me? I could have taken Cho. Or Van pelt. I'd even take Rigsby! Why you?" she rants, more to herself than to him.

"That's easy", he answers, now openly munching on his candy bar. She absent-mindedly wonders if that is what he has been having for breakfast ever since his wife died. "Every body ships Jisbon." He says it like it's something they were taught in elementary school.

"Jisbon?" her eyes narrow in curiosity and confusion. "What's Jisbon?"

He fakes a gasp just as the elevator door opens, and is walking out and ahead of her without answering. Her curiosity is increasing now, as is her annoyance. She just rolls her eyes and follows him, grumbling under her breath about how unfair his mind games are.

This is going to be such a long day.

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><p>"Jane, I'll drive", she says firmly. She knows that morning and Jane and her car isn't the best combination around.<p>

But he's already seated in the driver's seat, somehow having managed to steal her keys out of her pocket. "It's not safe for you to drive now. You're clearly still sleepy."

"And you are awake because?" she asks, reluctantly settling for riding shot-gun. He'd better not run her car into a tree or get a speeding ticket. She really hopes he has his driver's license with him this time.

"Chocolate. Glucose." He explains, grinning at her as he starts the car. "So where are we going?"

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><p>The drive is silent for 5 minutes, because she dozes off and he doesn't wake her up. She is jerked awake though when the road takes a sharp turn. She blinks a couple of times, before she decides that talking to Jane might actually keep her awake. "So….." She trails, looking outside the window. The wind is helping her relax and stay awake at the same time. It's still night, it's still dark. But it's so beautiful with all the city lights on. It's hard to believe there has been a murder in a beautiful night like this.<p>

"So…." he mimics, grinning again.

She frowns, crossing her arms over her chest, and turns around in her seat to face him. It's still too early for her to think of how to make small talk with him, and there's only the conversation from earlier that's in her mind. "I'll bite. Tell me what Jisbon is."

He shakes his head, his grin growing into a full smile. "You are smart, Lisbon. You can figure it out on your own. It's really easy."

"Jane!" she says in disbelief, staring at him. Why can't he be easy for once in his life? He wants her to play the guessing game? Early in the morning?

She remembers that she swore she wouldn't let Jane torture her with his mind games right at the beginning of the day. She bites on her lip and looks outside again.

"Did you know this agent?" he changes the topic of conversation.

"Saw him once or twice." She says, shaking her head. "We never worked together though."

He nods in understanding, a thought disturbing his mind. First Bosco and his team, now this Agent. He wonders if someone is aiming at CBI agents. He wonders if anyone is safe. He automatically wonders if Lisbon is safe. "You sleep with guns, don't you?" he asks casually.

She shrugs. She's not going to tell him. Not until he tells her what Jisbon is.

"You do", he concludes. "Your shrug gave it away Lisbon. If you want to hide something, try practicing in the mirror."

She huffs. "Is that what you do?"

"Nah!" he grins. "I practice on you people. I observe you and learn from your mistakes. Your faces just give you away. You see-"

"-Okay", she interrupts, holding up her hands. "That's as much of psychic talk as I can take right now."

"Wanna learn it later?" he risks asking.

She knows he's just messing with her, trying to get her mad. She fights back the urge to punch him in the nose, and doesn't answer him.

"I'm free this morning", he offers.

She still keeps quiet, taking in deep breathes to calm herself.

"And also this afternoon", he adds.

Her head snaps to him angrily. "Just drive!"

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><p>He's sniffing paintings at the house, and she's looking down at the ground in shame as the officers from the local P.D. stare at him like he's crazy.<p>

"Is he on drugs?" one of them asks her.

She snorts. "He doesn't need to be on drugs to drive you insane.- Jane!" she yells, gesturing him to quit doing whatever he was doing.

He shrugs and continues sniffing; now sniffing the files on the table.

"Jane!" she groans, once again fighting back the urge to punch him. One of these days, she is just going to go ahead and get it over with. "Come on, we need to talk to the victim's wife."

"_You _need to talk to the victim's wife", he dismisses her with a casual wave of his hand. "I'll be here."

She decides it's better if she talks to the wife alone, the wife must still be traumatized, and Jane would only cause trouble.

"Don't cause trouble", she warns him before she leaves the room, even though she knows it's in vain. She doesn't need to be a psychic to know that he'll never listen to her.

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><p>She's done interviewing the wife, and he's done pointing out embarrassing facts about the policemen and antagonizing them. She apologizes for him, he blurts out one more fact, she glares at him, he blurts out another, and then she's staring at him in disbelief.<p>

"You've got yourself a handful", the officer tells her, gesturing at Jane.

"I know", she sighs, the look in her eyes the same 'I knew my job was on the line the minute I met Jane' look that she's been taking on more and more these days.

"Lisbon, you got it wrong", Jane says, as they walk away, back towards her car. "He thought I was your boyfriend."

She huffs, glancing at him curiously. "And just how do you know that?"

He shrugs, getting inside the driver's seat before she can, and holding out the keys in his hands victoriously. "Everyone ships Jisbon."

And she's left standing with her mouth hanging open in realization. Jisbon equals…. Jane and Lisbon?

Now she's not so sure if she really wanted to know.

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><p><strong>AN: I hope you liked it. Reviews are much appreciated. Should I continue this one or just drop it? Thanks for reading :) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I still don't own The mentalist, and I still don't know who Red John is :P**

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><p>She stands still for two minutes, letting the words sink in properly, and letting the shock of realization fade. If this was anyone else, she would have dismissed it in the blink of an eye, but since it was Jane saying this, and since he read minds….. Oh dear Lord!<p>

He waits sympathetically, and, for once, doesn't comment. It's a good thing, because if he had said _anything_ at that moment, she's pretty sure she would have finally turned into an angry wrestler.

Time passes, and the shock fades, and she grumbles and settles for shotgun, again, but the words get stuck in her head, going round and round in loops, like she's on a merry-go-round. She looks outside the window- it's almost morning now, there's that faint morning sunlight that she loves in the rare days when there are no reports of homicides and she knows no one has died. She can see some people already up and on their way to their destination. She tries to clear her head and lose herself in thinking about these people, trying to imagine what their lives are like, what mood they are in at that moment, and what they are thinking. There's that one thing though: she's not Jane, and Jane is not contagious. So all she manages to do is stare blankly at the town and its people while her mind focuses on the one fact that she's trying to blur out.

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><p>She isn't surprised when he stops for break-fast at a small shop on the way. She reminds him they need to get back to the office soon, he reminds her that she is hungry and she can't get any work done efficiently with her stomach grumbling. She grumbles more to acknowledge his victory, and steps into the stop, settles down on the first table she spots and starts looking at the menu card instantly.<p>

"We'll have two sandwiches please", he orders, occupying the seat in front of her.

She briefly looks up from the menu to glare at him. "How do you know that's what I would have ordered?"

He shrugs, a small smile etching his features. "I don't know what you would have ordered, but judging by the look of this place, I know that it's the only thing they sell at this hour, so…."

She raises an eyebrow on hearing him admit out loud that he didn't know something, and now she is happy again. Maybe one day she can even get him to admit that he is wrong and she is right. She can feel they're edging closer to that day.

The sandwiches arrive. She isn't pleased with how they smell, or how they look even, but it's all they've got right now, and Jane is paying, so she doesn't complain.

"So…." she begins, as she takes a bite of what she decides is the worst sandwich she has ever tasted in her life, "Did you get any idea on who the killer is?"

He shrugs, his face contorting with distaste at how awful the "food" in his mouth tastes, and swallows it with much difficulty. "I have my hunches."

"Jane!" she heaves a sigh, shaking her head. She knows getting him to say something about the suspects is never easy. Why does she even try?

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><p>The drive back to the office consists of them complaining about how horrible the sandwiches were, and agreeing, unanimously for once, never to eat at that place again. It's normal, just like any other day, and she's feels comfortable. She's thankful that the "Jisbon" topic doesn't come up, and there, she just thought about it again.<p>

She steps out of her car, he steps out too, she holds her palm out, wiggling her fingers, and waits for him to hand her back her keys.

He grins, handing it back to her without a fight. "Lovely key-chain, by the way"

She can feel the sarcasm start to drip off her. "And what did you learn about me from it?" She says with a tiny bite in her voice.

"Nothing that I already didn't know about", he says with a shrug. "It just shows that you do like cute things."

She doesn't say anything- doesn't agree, doesn't protest either. Jane is going to study her with the giant microscope in his mind, and prove that he's right anyway. She steps into the elevator quietly, and waits for him to follow.

Once he's in and the door closes, she feels herself getting flushed. This is where they had their first conversation about "Jisbon", and being confined with Jane here, it makes her feel…. _weird_. She never noticed before that the elevator was so small, and they were so close. It makes her heart race in a weird way. She wonders if he knows, if he has studied her and figured it out. He doesn't say anything though, and she's glad for it, because again, the desire to punch. One day he'd make her land in anger management classes.

"Any suspects yet?" Hightower asks as soon as they step into the Office.

"No ma'am, we're working on it", she says quietly, with a nod, and heads to her team. "Van pelt, keep digging the phone records and see what you can find. Where's Cho?"

"He's interviewing a witness", Rigsby informs her.

She nods his way, heading to the room where Cho is. As she reaches him, she sees the witness walking away, escorted by police.

"Got anything?" she asks Cho, walking inside the room.

"Nothing useful", Cho answers, staring at the files in front of him.

She nods and is about to leave, when she suddenly remembers that there is something that she may want to ask him about. "Cho, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, boss", Cho answers, looking at her expectantly.

She licks her lips, looks around thee room and through the blinds to make sure that no one is around and no around is over-hearing. It feels weird to be asking someone from her team this. But he's the safest person, the only one who can keep his mouth shut. It's her best option to prove Jane wrong and get the thoughts out of her head for good.

"Do the people here think that", she clears her throat. This is so awkward, her eyes refuse to leave the dull black wall. "Do the people here think that something is going on between me and Jane?"

"I don't know", Cho replies in monotone, "is there something going on between you and Jane?"

"No! Of course not!" she protests, and notices that the pitch of her voice has increased now. Her words come out somewhat squeaky. Something tells her she would have failed a polygraph test right now. Weird, right?

"Then why do you ask?" Cho questions.

She rolls her eyes. For a moment she had forgotten that Cho would ask her a hundred questions for each question she asked. What was she thinking again? "Jane thinks", she begins, praying in her mind this doesn't reach Jane. If he knows she's actually been asking people about this, she'll never hear the end of it. "Jane thinks that you guys ship Jisbon", she says, using air quotes around 'Jisbon'.

"Well some of us think you'd be a good couple", Cho admits, getting up and arranging his files. "All of us know that if Jane ever starts dating again it's going to be you." He says, before he leaves the room.

Her eyes are wide with shock. This is a classic example of a fool-proof plan going wrong. Here she was expecting to assure herself "jisbon" isn't real, and now she's left wondering why people think she and Jane can be a couple.

There is no smoke without fire right? So where is this fire coming from?

"Hey Lisbon," Jane enters the room, as if on cue, breaking her out of her thoughts. She feels her face heat up at his sudden appearance, and hopes that he doesn't notice.

He doesn't, thankfully. He smiles and throws a candy bar in her direction.

She catches it, with years of CBI practice, and gives him a confused look. "What's this for?"

He shrugs. "My apologies for making you eat the horrible sandwich this morning." He sends her a grin as he walks out.

She can't help the smile forming on her face, as her fingers fiddle with the candy. Jane can be so sweet sometimes.

Which makes a voice somewhere at the back of her mind wonder- what trouble did he start now?

Another voice in her head answers: Jisbon.

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><p><strong>AN: there's another chapter. Hope you liked it, please review. :) What do you say now? Drop it or keep going? **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I still don't own The mentalist, and I still don't know who Red John is :P **

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><p>The day is dull. The team carries on their investigation on their own, Jane carries on sleeping in the couch, and Lisbon carries on giving orders to her team while trying not to think about Jisbon.<p>

It's only when evening arrives that they notice Jane is missing. He went out, without telling anyone, and no one knows when or where. Which isn't rare or unusual, but it's always a cause of worry, because it always means trouble.

"Jane, where are you?" She roars at his voicemail, even more angry to see that he didn't answer her call, and, if she's being honest, a little anxious as well. "Call me when you get this", she mumbles, and lets out a sigh as she hangs up, letting him know just how tired she is of his reckless attitude.

It's quiet after that. Van Pelt keeps showing her some phone records, and she pretends to be concentrating on it. Her phone is in her hand, her thumb lightly brushing over the screen as she scrapes her lower lip between her teeth, and even though it's not ringing, she keeps glancing at it every other minute.

Two hours pass like this, with no word from Jane. She's in her Office now, getting visibly restless now, her eyes always darting left and right as if in search of him, and her tone bordering on irritated.

Hightower is the first one who notices, or maybe she's the first one who speaks about it. "Relax; I'm sure Jane is fine."

Lisbon stops in her tracks, realizing for the first time that she has been pacing all the while, and let's out a nervous laugh. "What? No. I'm not worried about Jane." Her lips purse into a thin line as she says this, her bottom lip almost jutting out into a pout. She crosses her arms in front of her and frowns. "If he's in trouble, then he deserves it. I'm not going to bail him out. He needs to learn this lesson the hard way, because clearly, the easy way is not working." She says firmly, maintaining eye contact with her boss to let her know that she means it.

Hightower shrugs. "All right then. If you want to live in denial."

Lisbon is a bit taken aback as she hears this. Her hand comes down a lot to lock at her other wrist. "Excuse me, ma'am?"

Hightower lets a small smile spread across her lips. "We all know what's going on between you and Jane."

Her mouth falls open slightly, at the sudden event of her uptight boss talking to her about her personal life. "How did we get here again?" she asks when she finally closes her mouth, and allows herself the grin of amusement that she's been fighting back. And then her mouth falls open again when she realizes something. "Wait, you won't mind if there's something between me and Jane? I thought you were really serious about following the rules."

Hightower's phone rings, and before she leaves, she grins at Lisbon. "Jane isn't CBI."

Lisbon turns around and stands still in her office, half-leaning against her desk. She cannot believe that she is thinking about the possibilities and pros and cons of her and Jane, but she is. So her job is not on the line. That only leaves Red John between them. Red John needs to be captured and Jane needs to move on from his past. And then there's the main thing- she and Jane will have to start liking each other enough to start dating, which is surely impossible, because right now, she knows that she will never, ever, ever, ever, ever-

"Lisbon."

Suddenly shaken out of her thoughts, she jumps up from her place at the sound of voice behind her, her hands coming up over her chest. Her heart pounds uncontrollably in alarm, as her eyes quickly snap to the intruder's face. "Jane!"

He only grins, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, Lisbon, honest."

She drops her hands to her sides, then crosses then in front of her in a defensive way. "I wasn't scared! And where were you so long? Why didn't you return my call?" she's almost yelling at him, but that's okay. She has every right to be angry. He's got her…. _thinking. _Andthat's not okay.

"My battery went dead", he explains, taking out his cell phone from his pocket as evidence. "I wonder if Rigsby has a charger." And then he's walking out of her office without answering her other question.

She groans in frustration- why is he always like this? - mumbling a weak "I hate him" under her breath, and follows him. "Jane, you can't charge your phone in the Office." She orders, then frowns and looks down at her watch. It's already time for them to go home. She can see Rigsby already ready to leave, Van Pelt squirming in her seat and Cho arranging his files. She sighs. "Maybe you can charge it in his car then." she mumbles, walking back to her Office to get her stuff.

Jane pauses for a moment. A CBI agent was killed yesterday, and she's investigating the case. He knows it was a personal grudge, he has his hunches, but still, something keeps nagging him that she may not be safe. He quickly makes up his mind.

"Actually, I like your car's charger better." He announces, taking a peek inside her Office.

She huffs playfully. "You'd have to pay for it then."

He knows that she probably isn't serious, that she knows he will never pay, but he plays along. "Fine. I'll pay for dinner. Take out?"

She raises an eyebrow at him.

"Your dinner." He corrects quickly, flashing a grin.

She rolls her eyes, turns to her back while she loads her guns inside her jacket pockets- she is not going to let him see where she keeps them, period- and shrugs. "You can come along. I don't have much to do today."

He mentally heaves a sigh of relief. Now he wouldn't have to worry about getting inside her house, now he'd just have to figure out a way to stay with her. Funny how she is the armed CBI agent, and he's the unarmed mentalist, and yet, he is trying to protect her. Funny how he knows she's safe and is still afraid….

"As long as you don't cause any trouble. My neighbors aren't too pleasant." She adds a warning as she leaves for Hightower's Office, to let her know she's leaving.

He only grins. He shouldn't make any promises that he can't keep, right?

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><p><strong>AN: thank you guys once again for all the reviews and hits :) I hope you liked this chapter. PLEASE review. Thank you :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I still don't own The mentalist, and I still don't know who Red John is :P **

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><p>It's been a horrible day. She woke up to the news of a homicide, that too early in the morning. Then she learnt that she is being "shipped" with someone that she can't be with in the same room for longer than five minutes without frowning. All day long her team couldn't make any progress in the investigation, and Jane kept his hunches to himself. Add in the horrible sandwich in between, and you've got a wonderfully disastrous day.<p>

So when she manages to be in the driver's seat this time, she's _extremely _happy to say the least. Actually, happy would be an understatement. She's thrilled. Finally she has her hands on her steering wheel, and finally Jane will have to ride shot-gun. She knows it's a childish thing to be happy about, but Jane can be childishly stubborn at times, so she's allowed to be childish too.

Jane settles for shot-gun without protest, and turns on the AC in her air. She's really glad he doesn't turn on the radio; she doesn't need music blasting while she is trying to drive safely. Jane touching every part of her car is distraction in itself.

She changes her mind about the radio when the silence begins to grow between them though. She wonders why Jane isn't saying anything. She wants to start a conversation, but the only thing that comes to her mind is asking him who the killer is, and that is exactly what she's been managing to ask him all day, so not again. She'll settle for the radio. Hello… some teen pop star, scream more loudly please!

Jane winces at the music, and turns down the volume a bit, so that he can speak over it. "I didn't know you liked this kind of music, Lisbon…"

"I don't." she mumbles, rolling her eyes, "Change the station."

"Mind if I turn it off?" he asks softly.

She nods quickly, kind of relieved that now she won't go deaf.

He turns off the radio and she waits for him to speak, but he doesn't, and once again the silence begins to gnaw at her skin. So she clears her throat and begins speaking. "So what do you want for dinner?"

He quirks up an eyebrow curiously. "I thought dinner was on me?"

She sighs, shaking her head at how silly this is. "Well I figure if I can cook for one, I might as well cook for two." She mumbles, remembering to put on the fake frown on her face.

"Thank you, Lisbon", he says sincerity, giving her a warm smile. She turns her head to look at him and return the smile. Only, her eyes get stuck and she ends up staring at him for a bit longer than five seconds. She quickly looks away with a nod.

The rest of the drive is silent. It should have been an awkward silence, but surprisingly, it's very comfortable. Just like any other day. She parks the car, gets out, makes him swear that he won't look while she takes out the guns she hides in her car. She'd have to relocate them the next day anyway. Never trust Jane.

She opens the door to her apartment and invites him in, and he makes himself at home at once. He has been here before, more than once, this is not the first time, and thanks to his memory palace, he remembers every detail. He begins by rushing to the kitchen and starting to make coffee for them.

She keeps her grin to herself. It's good to have someone make her coffee when she gets home for a change. Usually, she'd just settle for beer while she watches crappy television shows.

She takes off her wallet, drops her keys, and picks up her home clothes. "I'm just gonna go change." She informs him, turning her smile into a frown and adding a glare. "Don't touch anything, Jane. Don't make me regret this." She warns.

He only shrugs and dismisses her with a wave of his hand and continues memorizing the things in her shelf.

She changes into her jimmies- the non-fluffy ones, she's not going to let him tease her about it later- and is pleasantly surprised when she finds two sandwiches alongside her cup of coffee.

"I bet these taste worse than the ones we had in the morning", she jokes, grinning at him as she takes a bite.

"Nah-uh", he grins back, "I cook for myself, remember? Years of practice can make you an expert cook, Lisbon."

She only nods, not sure what else to say. Some old wounds just don't go away, and she's learnt to live with them. Loneliness can be such a bitch, she knows it too well. "These do taste good", she admits. "Then why don't you fix yourself sandwiches for breakfast?"

He eyes her curiously. "How do you know I don't?"

"I saw you eating candy bar today, Jane." She reminds him.

He shrugs. "I don't like cooking for myself in the mornings. Brings back too many memories…. It used to be my wife's job. She'd make the best sandwiches ever."

She smiles softly, nodding her head again. "I understand."

She's quiet for a moment, letting him have his run at the memory lane. Who is she to try to drag him out? Who is she to _want to_ drag him out?

She frowns when she notices that his hands have stilled on the table and he's not eating anymore. Now this is awkward. This isn't exactly what she had in mind. She looks at his face, notices his eyes narrowed in the way it does when he's reminiscing that face of blood he saw on the walls of his house years back.

She knows nothing she can say can nurse that wound. So she decides to just hold his hand instead. She's always thought touches were comforting.

He shakes out of his trance at the touch, and glances down at her hand. The pain quickly dissipates from his eyes and he lets out a sigh, squeezing her hand back as a gesture of thanks.

It's quiet again for a while, when he resumes eating and finishes it, offers to do the dishes which Lisbon gladly accepts. She helps him though.

They don't splash bubbles at each other, because that would be extremely childish, right? They're colleagues, they are supposed to stay…. professional.

When what is he doing at her home for dinner? A voice inside her head asks her. She ignores it and scrubs her dish harder, frowning at herself. Bad brain!

He's Jane though, and he just has to mess with her, he has to touch the tip of her nose with his soapy hands. She closes her eyes and hisses, fights back the urge to start the fight. Instead, she settles in front of the TV.

He joins her, without an invitation- he doesn't need any, he's made himself at home, remember? "You watch MTV?" he asks in disbelief.

"No", she replies quickly, and switches channels.

He grins. "Then why was your TV set to MTV Lisbon?" he teases.

She groans at him, one hand going out to smack his shoulder. That's when she notices how stiff he's being. "Loosen up a bit", she says casually, gesturing at his shoes and socks.

"Okay", he shrugs, taking off his coat, and his shoes, and placing his legs on the table in front.

She pauses for a moment, chewing her bottom lip between her teeth as she thinks, and then she has made up her mind. She places her legs on his lap, on the other end of the couch.

He eyes it for a moment, and she starts regretting it, but he doesn't say anything, so she doesn't feel the need to move it. It's weird how out of character she's being, how chilled out he makes her feel. But they're not in office now, they're not working, so it's…. okay.

He speaks again after a while, now resting his hands behind his head and relaxing. "Didn't you say you'd cook?"

She shushes him quickly, focusing on the scene playing out in the TV. After a while she answers. "Yeah, I will. Not right now. We just had the sandwiches. Don't tell me you're hungry so soon!" she snarls, glaring at him.

He holds his hands up in surrender and makes a show of gulping. No messing with Lisbon in her house. Who knows, maybe she'll actually punch him not that they're off duty? Eeks.

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><p><strong>AN: sorry it took me a while to get this chapter up. I was just trying to make plot development. Hope you liked it. PLEASE review. Thanks for all the encouragement people :) **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own The mentalist **

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><p>She's almost stunned by how comfortable they can feel in each other's presence. Yes, they always felt comfortable with each other, she is aware of that, but they have never hung out like this in her house all alone, because of the desperate (and failing) efforts to keep her professional relationships professional.<p>

And she is definitely stunned by how Jane can manage to keep his mouth shut. She was expecting him to shoot little remarks about the show that she is watching, or maybe make observations, describe the characters, predict what will happen next, do _something_ Jane- like, but instead, he just watches it quietly, not saying a single word.

Now wouldn't her life be so much better if he could be this quiet while interrogating a suspect? Or a fellow CBI agent? Or a person they came across on the street?

She sighs contently, and turns up the volume. Her mind is not on the TV show though; it keeps straying back to Jane. Random conversations from random days plop inside her head. She doesn't even remember most of the events properly anymore. It's weird how she is thinking of this now. Maybe it's because there's too much of Jane in her life and she never noticed it? She doesn't think that she minds that though….

Lisbon frowns. She doesn't like where her trail of thoughts are heading. She has a fairly good idea how this can end. So this is what happens when Jane keeps quiet.

It's kind of boring though, if she is willing to admit, and it's kind of scary too, not knowing what exactly he is thinking. It's not like she always knows what he's thinking, quite the opposite actually, but there's the possibly that he'll pick up little details of the show and point them out to her later. Now that is definitely not a conversation that she wants to have.

Time passes silently. She keeps feeling this giddy, happy kind of feeling that she can't describe. It's new it's nice, she likes it, but it's kind of scary too. She really needs to talk, to say _something, _and she really wants to too.

When she turns to face him, she sees him fondling the ring in his finger. The happy feeling is gone soon enough, and worry takes over her.

"Jane?" she asks quietly, almost in a whisper.

"Huh?" he replies, still staring at the TV, and not looking at her. His fingers continue its motion with the ring, and she sees him taking it off and slipping it back on repeatedly.

What exactly is going on in his mind?

She just stares at him, keeping her gaze soft and soothing, waiting to see if he wants to talk about it, if he wants to share something.

After a moment, he feels her stare. His head snaps to her face, and he frowns in confusion. "What? Is there something on my face?" he narrows his eyebrows together, staring at her. His tone is completely natural, his eyes bearing the same look of amusement they usually do, the same quirky grin at the corner of his lips.

Her eyes widen. So he was doing that absent-mindedly? He didn't realize he was fiddling with his wedding ring? Or is he lying on purpose? It's so hard to tell. She'll never get Jane.

"Nothing", she shakes her head, looking away. Before he can tease her about staring at him, she shoots him a question. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Whatever you want to cook", he tells her, before he breaks into a grin, "as long as it's edible."

She smacks his sides, it's an instinct, and glares at him playfully. "Better than the awful sandwiches that you made me eat."

"I didn't _make _you eat them, Lisbon. You were hungry, you ate them willingly." He reasons, now tapping his feet on the ground in a random rhythm.

She wonders what is going on….

"I'll go start dinner." She blurts out suddenly, jumps up from the couch, and dashes to her kitchen. She dares just one glance back, and finds him blinking in confusion.

She leans against her kitchen wall and sighs, trying to catch her breath. Suddenly, she feels like she is suffocating. In a good way.

It's almost like she ran away from him because his gaze was burning her….

"Need help?"

She jumps up at the sudden sound of his voice, placing a hand over her panting chest. Her heart is pounding like a drum being pounded on by a mad drummer. "Stop doing that!" she hisses at him, ready to hit him with the frying pan that's nearest to her hand.

He backs up quickly, and holds up his hands in defense. "Whoa, Lisbon! We're not cartoons, you know? That is actually going to hurt."

She only glares harder and lifts the pan higher. Now she is serious. "Shut up Jane!"

"You do not want to do that", he tries reasoning, trying to walk away slowly from the kitchen. She seems to calm down some as he does, so he decides it's the right move. Though he's not really sure what he did to anger her this much this time….

"You bet I do!" she hisses, but with something other than venom in her voice. He knows what that something is, and he _really _wants to hope that he is wrong this one time.

"Okay, okay, okay", he exits the kitchen slowly, taking two steps at a time, "I'll just watch TV then."

Once he's out of her sight, she places the pan back down and sighs. What is wrong with her? Why is he doing this to her today? She is _so_ tempted to blame this on Jane somehow. She'll admit though- this was kind of sort of fun in their usual way.

"You know, you're acting weird today."

He shoots the comment and makes a run for it just in time before the frying pan lands on the door and breaks. He knew she'd do that. He also knows she didn't really aim for him, she just threw it randomly to scare him away. He'll give her the pleasure.

"JANE!" she yells, "Look at what you just broke! I told you that you better not break my things!"

"_I_ didn't break it! _You_ did!" he yells from some room in some part of her house.

She easily recognizes where the sound is coming from. She knows he's hiding inside the bathroom.

Good. She grins, tiptoes there and locks him in. _Now _he can't cause her any more trouble.

She happily returns to the kitchen, finally calm, and finally feeling like herself. Finally, she will not be thinking about Jane, and wow, she just did. She shakes her head to ignore the thoughts and lights her oven, taking out her utensils from the shelf.

Of course peace lasts for only two minutes. It doesn't take Jane much long to toy with a lock, get out and join her again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: thought I should write pure fluff. Hope you liked it. Do you want a Jane's POV? Please review :) Thank you for reading :) **


	6. Chapter 6

This time though, when he enters the kitchen, he picks up a different topic of conversation. "What do you know about colognes?"

Lisbon is a little taken aback by this sudden question. She subconsciously lifts her arms to smell her armpit, wondering if this is Jane's way of telling her she stinks. She doesn't, though, and so she has to ask. "Why?"

Jane shakes his head. "Question for a question won't get us anywhere, Lisbon."

She stops for a moment and thinks, tries to figure out where there is coming from. Does this have something to do with her house? Something on her shelves, maybe? Or maybe this is about the murder? Well, during the investigation, he was…. He was smelling things. It suddenly hits her. "You think you caught a whiff of the murderer's cologne?"

His eyes twinkle with pride to see that she figured it out, figured him out. "You're learning", he says, and just because he's Jane, adds, "Though this was pretty obvious."

"Can you describe the scent?" she asks, grabbing her pen and note-pad from the cup-board, like he will forget if she doesn't write it down now. Which is kind of stupid, because Jane never forgets, but her cops instincts just jump-started before she could stop it.

"What do you know about colognes?" he repeats.

She purses her lips and glares, putting the notepad back down. "Not much", she admits.

He grins. "Then it's useless describing the scent to you. You won't be able to identify the cologne."

She lets out a frustrated sigh, wanting to scream out the fact that she woke up at freaking midnight, has been working the case without any progress, and now that he has a clue, he's torturing her by not telling her. "I'm not useless, I'm your boss, you need to tell me. I can make Cho look it up."

"No need, I know what cologne it is." He declares, and for the first time that day she breathes a sigh of relief. Jane's hunches are usually never wrong, and it seems like they are finally getting somewhere. Good, they need this case over with as soon as possible, after all, this was one of their one.

"One of my former clients used to wear it." Jane explains. "It's specially designed foreign imported cologne. Only a few people in the city have it."

"Do you know the name?"

"No, but I can find out", he smiles sweetly, "let's take a trip to my ex-client's house tomorrow and find out the dealer."

She thinks for a moment. There is a high chance that the client would be highly pissed at the fake psychic Jane, and there may be unpleasant circumstances. But she's a cop with a gun and badge, it's nothing she can't put down. "Sounds good", she finally nods.

He nods back and walks back into the living room, grabbing the newspaper and pen and trying to finish off her unfinished crossword from the previous day- he knows this will probably annoy her, but then, doesn't he annoy her anyway?

Lisbon manages to focus on cooking, with her mind only thinking about this murder investigation and the trip tomorrow. She smells the dish she's cooking, and is delighted that it smells good. It's not that she's a fancy cook- she orders take out most of the days, because, hey, who likes to cook just for themselves?- but she did used to cook for her father, and does cook occasionally even now. Some of those days, she leaves the dish on the oven for a bit too long and the bottom of it chars just a bit, but today it's just perfect. Which is good. Not because she wants to feed Jane properly or anything. But just because now he can't make fun of her cooking.

She takes it off the stove and places it on the plates- the semi-good ones, because the regular ones are too ordinary, and she doesn't trust Jane not to accidentally break the expensive ones. At first, she decides to set it on the dining table, but when she goes to the living room and sees Jane in front of the TV, she decides they can just eat on the couch.

"Ooh, smells good, thanks", Jane compliments, grabbing the plate from her, along with the fork, and taking a bite. "Tastes good too. Why didn't you tell us you could cook, Lisbon?"

She half shrugs, finding herself happy with the little compliment, like a little child who was just told that her drawing was pretty. She starts eating too, and glances at the TV to see what he's watching. It's the news, and she rolls her eyes. She never really watches the news after work, it's like taking work home.

The news changes to the homicide of the Agent soon, how it was gruesome and the killer is still on the loose, and they show photos of the victim and the crime scene, and it's hard to eat while hearing about the death of the colleague.

Thankfully, Jane gets the cue and swiftly changes the channel.

To wrestling. Seriously?

She watches him wide-eyed as he watches the gruesome battle, half-wondering if he is trying to take lessons from it or something, and half-wondering if she finally lost it.

The rest of the evening is spent in silence, with friendly chit-chat now and then, small talk. Jane offers to do the dishes, and she gladly accepts, on the condition that he will pay for anything he breaks, besides the frying pan, which leads to the argument about how she threw it, and how it isn't really broken.

And then it's time to leave, and Jane finds himself feeling uneasy. It's not she can't protect herself, and it's not like he can protect her any better, despite the wrestling. But leaving her alone… "Be careful", he voices his concern.

She nods. "Don't worry."

"I'll see you at the office tomorrow then?"

"Yeah."

And it's awkward. Because it's not like it was a date or something. No, they just had dinner together and watched some TV. People do that all the time, it's not a big deal.

And yet, they don't know how to say goodbye. Should he kiss her on the cheek? Nah, that would be too inappropriate, right?

So he does what he does best, which is tease her in the perfectly annoying way that she hates- "Try not to watch too much reality TV. We don't need you hurling curses at a crime scene."

"I do not watch reality TV!" she hisses immediately, and then adds, mumbling. "At least not every day."

He grins. "Don't be ashamed of it. It's human nature to find it fun watching people fight and bitch against each other."

"You were watching an actual fight!" she accuses, sending a glare in his direction. "I never thought you were into wrestling."

"Wrestling is a form of sports, Lisbon, unlike reality TV." He counters.

And they both know this argument can go on forever. Which she doesn't really mind if she is being honest, but she needs to catch some much needed sleep, she's so tired. And so must be he.

"Whatever", she rolls her eyes. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight", he nods, gives her one final smile- which she returns, and finds herself staring at his twinkling eyes while she does- and then he's on his way.

She watches him walk away, like she is captivated by him, which she suspects she may be- not that she'll admit it- and closes the door only when he's out of sight.

And why does her apartment suddenly feel so empty?

* * *

><p><strong>AN: first of all, I'm SO sorry in the long delay in update. I had a writer's block, and then I was waiting for my country to pick up the last season, but it still didn't. So I went ahead and updated anyway. I hope you remember the story and still like it. PLEASE review and let me know. Thank you everyone for sticking with me, thanks for all the reviews, alerts and favs, I really appreciate it :) **


	7. Chapter 7

She is so exhausted that sleep consumes her as soon as she drops into her bed. And then she dreams, about her childhood, her old friends, CBI, chasing criminals, Jane- everything all jumbled up randomly. When she wakes up, she's almost grateful. She is so tired, she knows she'll probably be grumpy all day. Well, that actually depends on Jane, on how annoying he will decide to be and how much trouble he will create for her.

His night is restless, spent staring at the creepy smiley-faced old blood stain on his wall, trying to ignore this new thing in his heart that he has been feeling for quite a while now, and worrying about Lisbon- even though he has already figured out the motive of the killer and knows that she is safe. He wakes up early that morning, in need of a good shower.

They both reach the office at the same time, and take the elevator together. He greets her with a good morning, she acknowledges with a nod and a stifled yawn. He knows she's grumpy. He shuts up.

She talks to Hightower, lets her know that Jane has a lead that they want to follow, that she wants to go on a field trip. Hightower reminds her that she will be suspended if Jane screws up.

And so Lisbon gives Jane such a glare when she asks him to follow her into the car that he decides it's better if he doesn't ask to drive just this once.

And honestly, it's not just the lack of sleep and the crazy dreams and her job being constantly on the line for him that's annoying her. It's also how she has been feeling lately, especially when Jane is around her. Denial is taking the form of anger in her case. She almost slams the door when she gets in.

He makes an "eek" sound, receives an instant glare, and is quiet since, riding shot-gun, like an obedient little child who stares out of the window curiously.

She hates the silence. It's making her think. She wishes he will say something, besides giving her directions. She begins the conversation. "You should have been driving today, you know the place."

He stares at her like he thinks she's talking (and driving!) in her sleep. Did she voluntarily just say that she would have given him the keys?

And then she adds snarkily. "You're getting me fired today, anyway. Might as well get a fender-bender."

He grimaces. "Yeah, about that, I kind of forgot to mention that this client _may _have a grudge on me, now that he knows I'm a fraud."

She rolls her eyes. "I figured that much. But what's the difference? You alienate people you meet for the first time by the time you leave anyway."

"True", he nods, grinning, trying to ease the little bit of tension he's starting to feel at the back of his mind.

She can't help but grin back. His grin always wins her over, there's something so charming about it, she hates it.

* * *

><p>The mansion is bigger than she imagined, this guy must be really rich, this thinks, no wonder he buys such a fancy cologne. She wouldn't know if someone ever replaced her perfume, wouldn't really see the difference.<p>

The security guard stumbles at the flashing of batch, Jane points out that he smokes weed and completely angers him, Lisbon steps in and assures that she's not here to make arrests today, just some enquiry. After a while, they're sitting in the living room, Lisbon refusing to look at Jane to let him know that she's furious.

That fails to scare him though, he goes on fiddling with expensive things that he doesn't have money to buy if he breaks. She knows he's doing it on purpose, to make her snap, to make her talk to him, so she's pursing her lips and forcing herself to hold it back. It's torture either way anyway.

She's about to lose it when the middle aged owner of the mansion enters the room, dressed in an expensive suit- and wearing that same fancy cologne, she recognizes the scent from the crime scene, how did she not see it as evidence before?

They both stand up.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting Officer, I was-" the owner pauses midway when he notices Jane, and Lisbon stiffens. Here it comes.

But instead of the tensing of jaws and string of accusations that she is expecting, his eyes soften around the corners instead. "Wow, Jane... it's been so long."

Jane nods uneasily. "Matt."

Lisbon wonders for a moment how close they were to be on first name basis. And she gets her answer soon.

"We used to talk every week. And now you haven't visited since…" Matt trails off.

It's quiet, it's tense, the clock ticks on in anticipation. Jane sighs. "You trusted me. I took advantage of your trust. I faked it all. I cheated you. What face would I have shown you when I got caught?" he checks his anger at himself, and takes in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, for everything." He says sincerely, looking Matt in the eyes.

Matt just dismisses it with a wave of his hand, and sits down on the sofa, motioning for them to join. "You gave me hope, it kept me going, it got me where I am today, it's fine, forget about it. Tell me, how can I help you?"

Jane blinks, taken aback. This isn't the reaction he was expecting- isn't the reaction he gets from his former clients. Sometimes even he fails to predict human nature. But he's glad, he's always relieved, a tiny part of his guilt is now lifted.

This is when Lisbon cuts in, knowing very well how Jane must be feeling. "We were wondering if we could get the name and contact information of the manufacturer of your cologne. It's related to one of our ongoing investigations."

Matt looks surprised. "Just this much? You could have just asked on the phone. But I'm glad you came in person, glad I got to see you, Jane. Have some coffee."

Lisbon wants to say no, they're on the job, they should leave, but this is kind of a reunion for Jane. Maybe he can finally get back an old friend?

She decides to stay. The guys small-talk, catch up on each others' lives, Lisbon wonders at how much she doesn't know about the old Jane, how much he has changed. Well, he was good to begin with, he was a good person at heart- his father made him take advantage of people, circumstances turned him to who he used to be. But that wasn't real him- this is real him. She knows the real him. And she decides she doesn't care how he was before they met, she doesn't want to know.

Half an hour later, they exit, with the name and address scribbled on a piece of paper. She thanks Matt, Matt tells Jane to keep in touch, Jane smartly avoids making any promises.

Lisbon calls up Van Pelt to give her the information and have her meet the guy. And this time, she lets Jane drive.

He was overwhelmed for so long, with too many emotions and memories that he was pretending not to care about, but now he's ready to get back to being himself. "Why are you letting me drive? Don't tell me the security guard passed you some weed!"

Her eyebrows furrow into a thin line on being reminded of how Jane was sabotaging everything in the beginning. She crosses her arms over her chest. "I'm thinking of taking a vacation just to get away from you."

He chuckles. "Aren't you afraid that I'll screw up everything while you're away?"

She thinks for a minute, imagines Jane being rude to every witness and every suspect and everyone in the Office, and sitting on her desk with his feet propped up on her table, shoes and all, and her eyes widen like saucers in terror. "How about _you _take a vacation then?"

He suddenly turns serious again. "I will, once we catch Red John."

She likes how he uses "we" instead of "I", like he used to before. She's glad to know that he knows he's not alone anymore. "A month in the Caribbean?"

"How about a month in Jersey?" he teases, reminding her of the tv show he caught her watching. And then he's quiet again. "I don't think the CBI will need me once they have Red John."

Lisbon looks out of the window. She has always speculated that he will quit once that chapter is over, but she always thought he will change his mind. She's still going to hope. "And what job will you take?"

He shrugs. "I can always entertain the crowds in parties."

She scoffs. "You should join the circus then. You'll be a good clown."

And so they, once again, get back to their usual meaningless bickering.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: hope you liked this chapter, it was more serious than before, but now it'll be back to fluff again! Please review! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

They return to the Office, and Van Pelt has already pulled up the list of people who bought the cologne.

"I don't get it", she shakes her head in dismay, the way she does when something just doesn't seem to fit. "These are all rich people. You'd think they would hire someone to kill for them. Why would they be at the crime scene?"

"Oh, they weren't", Jane grins, his eyes twinkling in the way that they did when he knew something the others didn't.

That know-it-all grin always annoys Lisbon. She crosses her arms over her chest. "I'll bite, what's your guess?"

Instead of answering her question, he asks Van Pelt one of his own. "Did you find any woman in your list?"

"Yeah, there was one", Van Pelt pauses, searching through the list. "Some… Lindsay Smith. She's the wife of James Smith, owner of the Smith Industrial Corporation."

"Trophy wife, how cute", Jane grins again, staring at the picture of the woman.

"How do you know it's her?" Rigsby asks, staring at Jane with the kind of awe that he had for him.

Jane decides he's worthy of an explanation. "It's a men's cologne. Why would a woman be buying it?"

Lisbon snorts. "Maybe she bought it for her husband?"

Jane shakes his head, this time refusing to argue. He knows what he knows, and he knows he's right. "My guess is, she was having an affair with someone, someone that she bought the cologne for."

Lisbon bites her lips. Jane is offering a baseless theory, without any evidence. And this woman is high profile, they can get into trouble- _she _can get into trouble. Jane will just have his fun insulting everyone and get away with it.

But then, this is all they have got right now- no DNA or prints from the crime scene- and Jane is usually right. "Ok, let's go interrogate her then."

Jane clicks his tongue and shakes his head again. "Don't be silly, Lisbon, she's a rich industrialist's wife, she's not going to admit to having an affair." Before she can ask him what his brilliant idea is, he says it himself. "We're going on a stake out."

She closes her eyes and groans inwardly. Stake outs with Jane are so annoying. He gets bored with waiting and starts studying her every time to pass the time. Last time he somehow figured out that she had a secret collection of pink napkins.

Also because this is, once again, alone time with him, and with the way that she's been feeling lately, she's not sure if it's such a good idea to be in such close proximity with him for so long.

A blush involuntarily creeps up her cheeks at the thought, and she immediately scribbles down the address on a piece of paper and starts to walk away. "Ok then, come on, Jane."

* * *

><p>The drive is filled with her glaring at him and pleading him to keep his mouth shut under all conditions. "My job depends on it", she points out. "You'll do this for me."<p>

He shrugs, not making any promises. But she knows she's got him.

She parks the car near the entrance to the mansion, and waits. A few minutes later, a car leaves- James' car. Soon enough, there's Lindsay. Walking.

They wait a while to make sure the distance is enough, and she starts driving again, following the woman. It's killing her to drive this slowly, but hey, it's part of the job.

Lindsay enters a coffee shop, and Lisbon holds up her hand from the steering wheel. "Now what? We just go in there?"

"Yeah?" he says it like it's obvious. "You can pretend to be on a date, right?"

The blush returns, and this time, there's a warm tug in her stomach too. A part of her keeps saying it's just an undercover mission, while another part keeps wishing this was for real. She wills both of them to shut up and tries to focus on the job at hand.

They enter the coffee shop, and sit down on a table far away from Lindsay, yet close enough to be able to study her perfectly.

Jane opens up the menu card as the waiter stops to take their order. "The usual, dear?"

Lisbon stumbles at the "dear", taking a moment to catch herself. "Uh, yeah."

And so maybe she doesn't really catch herself. Maybe her heart is still beating uncontrollably, as if she is a teenager with a crush. But whatever. He can think she's just nervous. Or something. She tells her mind to shut up again, and focuses on Lindsay.

Soon enough, a man joins her- a man with the unmistakable smell of the same cologne.

Even though Lisbon knew that Jane's right, it still catches her off guard how he can find a killer just from the smell of cologne. Who wears such strong cologne to the crime scene anyway? It doesn't even smell so good!

More importantly, why was he at the crime scene? Why would he want to kill a CBI Agent?

She decides it's time to find out. "Come on, Jane."

He doesn't move an inch. "Hold on, they are not going anywhere. Let's have the coffee first."

She thinks for a moment, and then decides that she wants to finish this little "date". Of course, she can't think of anything to say to him, she's so nervous. So she pretends to watch Lindsay and the guy closely.

And if he notices that she's just pretending, she's thankful that he doesn't bring it up. Instead, he just sips his coffee quietly.

If she had turned around to face him, she would have seen him staring at her face with a smile on his lips while she stared at Lindsay. By the time she finishes her coffee, he has looked away.

They pay the bill, and she walks up to the table where the two are seated, Jane trailing behind her. She flashes her badge to the guy. "CBI. Will you please come down to our Office, Sir?"

"What's going on?" Lindsay asks, startled.

Lisbon waits for Jane to shoot a snarky remark. When he doesn't, she sighs in relief. "It's just a routine interrogation man."

Thankfully, the guy- named Will as they later learn- doesn't run away. They get him to the station, and Cho gets him to break down and confess at an interrogation. About how the CBI agent had found out that he was stealing money from the Smiths and spending it on drugs, and had to kill him to get him out of the way.

Another case closed, another crime solved, and she still has her job. This is the perfect day.

Cho cuffs Will, and on the way to the jail, he pauses in front of Jane. "I thought you were just there to have coffee with his pretty little girlfriend, but no." he sputters angrily, before Cho drags him away.

Lisbon blinks. So everybody do think they are a couple, everybody do ship Jisbon.

And then it hits her suddenly. "Jane?"

He's lying down on his sofa, and he doesn't even open his eyes to look at her. "Yeah?"

She hesitates, wondering if she should say it, wondering if this will make everything weird between them and wreck it all. But if she doesn't now, she may never again. If she can have the courage to pick up a gun and shoot, she might as well gather enough courage to get this done. "You said everybody ships Jisbon." She pauses to swallow. "You didn't say _everybody but me_."

Her breath is rapid, heart beating fast, as she watches him intently to see his reaction.

He only grins calmly. "I didn't say_ everybody but you_ either."

And just like that, everything that needs to be said, is said. But she'll wait till they are comfortable enough to say it out loud.

They'll wait.

_-The end_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hope you liked it :) **


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